The White Savior Trope, Explained
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2020
- Why do so many stories about racism revolve around the White Savior? In 2020, as the Movement for Black Lives grew in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, The Help experienced a resurgence in popularity, becoming one of the most-streamed movies on Netflix. The 2011 film about a white woman confronting racism may be well-intentioned, but-like Green Book, The Blind Side, and other White Savior movies before it-The Help centers its story on benevolent white characters, rather than on firsthand black perspectives. How did this trope become so persistent? Here’s our Take on the dangers of the White Savior, and how we can change our own narratives and conversations to become more anti-racist ourselves. If you like this video, subscribe to our channel or support us on Patreon: / thetake
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We are The Take (formerly ScreenPrism).
12 Angry Men (1957)
13th (2016)
A Time to Kill (1996)
Amistad (1997)
Avatar (2009)
Black Panther (2018)
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Black Like Me (1964)
Blindspotting (2018)
Blood Diamond (2006)
Broken Arrow (1950)
Cool Runnings (1993)
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Dangerous Minds (1995)
Freedom Writers (2007)
Get Out (2017)
Glory (1989)
Glory Road (2006)
Gran Torino (2008)
Green Book (2018)
Half Nelson (2006)
Hardball (2001)
Hidden Figures (2016)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Lilies of the Field (1963)
Malcolm X (1992)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Music of the Heart (1999)
Pocahontas (1995)
Selma (2014)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
The Blind Side (2009)
The Green Mile (1999)
The Hate U Give (2018)
The Help (2011)
The Last Samurai (2003)
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
The Principal (1987)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Top Five (2014)
When They See Us (2019)
Black-ish (2014-)
Broad City (2014-2019)
Dear White People (2017-)
Insecure (2016-)
Little Fires Everywhere (2020)
Mrs. America (2020-)
Never Have I Ever (2020)
Ramy (2019-)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
The Big Sick (2017) - Zábava
Rewarding someone for not being racist is like rewarding someone for not being a serial strangler
Scranton strangler
Kidney Care Coaching toby...💀💀💀💀
But I think you should keep in mind the risk someone takes to go against political system at that time. If someone treated Jewish people with kindness in 1942, and tried to help them, he's definitely a hero because his life is at stake. Same thing as if someone helped a salve or black person during slavery and segregation he's definitely taking big risk to do the right thing.
No awards for you, Toby
none of this is meant as a "reward" numbnuts, stop being so sensitive
They should flip the trope on its head, and have a Protagonist of color help a bunch of passive white people.
Like!
someone call Jordan Peele
One Who Loves Venison that’s was I thought!
StarrPhototype lol yes please
Jordan Peele did it with Us.
Even Jesus has been changed into a white saviour.
@@dancooper1 Jesus was from the Middle East so he probably wasn’t white.
@@Jinhunter1 thank youuu
@Chuck Haggert I'm familiar. Ethiopians returning to Y'israel is just the beginning. Lost tribes to follow soon.
@@Luv4Turbo did the person you were talking to delete their comment? What did they say?
Never heard of Asian Jesus?
I still to this day can't believe how insulting The Blind Side is to Michael Oher. He was a talented football player for many years before he met that white family. In the movie they portray him as some big dumb oaf who needed to be taught the basics. I can't imagine how hurt he must feel having his story bastardized like that.
Actually...there was a part of the movie where Michael taught the family (or rather Sandra Bullock's character) values. He KNEW about eating at the table, when everyone else rushed to the TV for thanksgiving...he wasn't an oaf.
O.M.Gosh! Bastardized!
he was more of an awkward teenager, maybe stop adding context and you wont be so offended.
@@bailechuind6194 Well it wasn’t true. At all. His white mom and annoying brother didn’t teach him football.
@@absolutelynot6504 they didnt in the movie genius, im getting a distinct vibe like you never watched it and just complain about commercials. his annoying 4 year old brother didnt teach him football you dont say....see this is what i mean youre just hateful and stupid you didnt even watch the movie just looking for shit to be offended by like a bitch.
Even in Africa 🇬🇭. Somehow when a white man visits a village the community views him as a sort of savior, there to end poverty and sickness. Maybe build a clinic. However when rich natives come back with ideas they are met with hostility. Somehow the white man is the better man. Another generational effect of colonization
This is sadly true.
I'm a Black American. We don't think White people are the answer. We hate the movies because we know that we have to fix our own problems.
@Sightless Sniper STFU.
@Sightless Sniper you are an ignorant idiot.
I'll tell you what effects white immigration had on The African Continent....🙄
@Sightless Sniper How are you going to blame another race for problems your race created?🤣🤣
Next one you guys need to do is :The rich guy falling in love with average middle class/ poor girl
Yes, that'd be interesting!
basically many disney movies
Up!
They will somehow spin it as a way to enforce the patriarchy or something like that.
Yes! It also happens with rich girl, poor boy like in Titanic and Aladdin and Sybil in Downton Abbey.
I find that the white savior or most savior roles have a really dark undertone, some kind of narcissistic manipulative aspect of it. Like the nice guy.
Indeed, has very "But I'm not racist at least" undertones, like if that wasn't the bare minimum
@Andrea MENDENHALL thanks
Yeah they have this give me my reward I did something for you attitude. When a truly nice person would just jumbly accept they did something good without rubbing it in
Maybe in some stories, but I don't think that's always the case necessarily. Not all of those characters seemed narcissistic in their behavior to me. Sometimes, you just want to do something to rectify a behavior that seems unfair and pisses you off, and you find yourself to have more power in changing things than the victim (you know, because in this case, you're respected by the white people because you're also white). Not doing something would be cowardly and too passive, but then if you do something, you're trying to make yourself a savior?? No, not necessarily, I think.
I love it!
I love Freedom Writers but finding out the teacher was actually Latina was so heartbreaking. It’s so messed up that they made her into a white savior.
She’s a white Latina. Latina/o isn’t a race.
@@unapologetic7281 that’s true, but she is still Latina with brown skin not some white savior.
@@stephocean she doesn’t have brown skin🤭😂 her skin is white. she may not be culturally seen as ‘white’ since the culture in the US is Anglo-Saxon white. But she is still racially white. That’s my point.
The real teacher is a white Latina. We come in many different colors not just brown 🤦🏻♀️
Bruh, she’s white. Stop breaking your heart over a race that doesn’t exist. Latine people have many types of skin tones. Just because a Latina is brown doesn’t mean her race is also brown lmao.
There’s a difference between using your privilege to help others and talking over the people you’re trying to help (white saviourism.)
What privilege?
very few people seems to note that
Pretzel Stick white privilege
Yes! That is what this video fails to reckognize, for example with TKAM
@@earlgrey4013 White privilege don't exists, you know. Being in the norm isn't a privilege.
these movies support the "I don't see colour narrative".
A lot of people don’t care abt color though. A lot of ppl who are non-racist think like that.
@@finntran1672 thats what the video explicitly says: "it's not enough to be NON-racist, you have to be ANTI-racist." Saying "I don't see color" means that you invalidate the experiences of others because you don't take their experiences into consideration.
Acting like "I don't see color" is a bad thing is essentially saying you don't want racism to end.
Kyle Stewart I don’t see colour is a bad thing though, there’s nothing wrong with seeing colour, humans being different colours, ethnicities and from different cultures is a beautiful thing, what’s wrong is attaching negative connotations to certain colours and positive connotations to others, which is essentially what you are doing when you feel like you have to say “I don’t see colour”.
@@jessicamarie6448 Saying "I don't see color" means exactly that, that you don't attach positive or negative connotations based on color. It is obviously not literal, and you can't just assume that, if someone says it, it somehow implies the need to say it means the opposite.
Can you make a trope about disabled people in media?
A lot of disabled characters tend to be feel sorry for, get patronized, or become a source of inspiration for abled people.
no they dont....where name one.
@@bailechuind6194 The upvotes I got said otherwise. I don't know where you from, but the American media have plenty of examples to count.
@@sunspotmill1291 it was sarcasm bud.... i thought it was obvious i laid it on thick.
@@bailechuind6194 Yeah, I kinda figured and only wanna humor you a bit. I thought it was pretty obvious... As if anyone on the internet would actually be that stupid or lazy enough to ask something like that without doing their research first.
Off the top of my head: Rain Man, Radio, The Other Side of the Mountain, Ice Castles, My Left Foot, Children of a Lesser God, Best Years of Our Lives, Mr Holland's Opus, The Miracle Worker, Elephant Man (my favorite).
I feel like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina does a good job of turning this trope on its head because Sabrina's biggest flaw is that she has a saviour complex and it's often a *white* saviour complex. Most of her friends are minorities and she does try to help them but whenever she does it just causes trouble. One of her friends, who happens to be a black girl (and I believe is actually disabled at this point), tells her: "You're always helping us but you never stop to ask if we *want* your help." Basically, it takes the trope of the white saviour *and calls it the fuck out.*
that's true. And it's funny because I just realized this is one of the main reason why I don't like Sabrina (this and the fact that she never learns from her mistake). She "helps" them even when everybody tell her this is the bad idea. And I think it is Prudence that points out that she doesn't do it for other people but for herself.
@Jack Beatty Rule number one of being an ally: we shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down when the person we're an ally to talks, and we give 'em the boost, not *speak for 'em* . It's not rocket science.
@Jack Beatty there is a big difference between helping and saving.
Helping is about giving a hand if needed, to let a person accomplish what she wants to do.
Saving is about denying the person's ability to accomplish this thing, and do it instead of them.
And in context of "minority savior", it is damaging because it denies the minorities's ability to speak for themselves or to fight themselves for their rights. I suppose most of the saviors don't realize that, but they treat minorities as children or not able people.
It must be confusing because the line between helping and saving is not always clear. But it is important to acknowledge it.
basically it sounds like an ideological dumpster fire of marxist doctrine, you criticize white people who say black people dont need whites to take care of them and call them racist republicans then HAVE THE STUPIDITY to talk about the white savior trope? make sure to vote democrat kitty like you have been really making a difference. golf clap hypocrite.
And Whites are TOTALLY cool with not saving you, make sure you vote to stop all foreign aid to other countries, and to cancel all welfare and entitlement programs. Then, since you wont have our money, we wont have to save you. :D
As an African... when white people say stuff like oooh I just want to go to Africa and help all the poor people stuff like that annoys me so much. Like idk help the poor people in your country? Or when they want to come here and teach English ... do they ever go to France or Russia to teach them English? There's nothing wrong with English it's just that we have our own languages too, and the prioritization of English has lead to the decline of so many indigenous languages.
Oof now that's roust on those white libs
So people like Bono and Bob Geldoff, two Irishmen, Bono in particular has done a lot of good and more than most all black America superstars, explain that one to me please?
@@greengrugach1984 I have no idea who those are, or how they relate to what I said
@Chelsea Love We have African doctors right here.
@Chelsea Love Me or the government?
I hate how these movies are in the past and have endings where it’s like “yay, we solved racism!” Pisses me off.
Random Fellow ok keran
No they don't
"cry more"
"no they don't"
watch out folks, the opposition is really coming out with their strongest material today
Who in their right mind would think "racism is no more!!" after watching Green Book? It makes no sense. The ending pretty much says that reconciliation and progress is possible. It never tries to "solve racism".
IT is solved. It doesn't exist (racism)
A huge problem with "The Help" is that in the book it was very clear who the actual writer was (the Viola Davis character), whereas the movie made you think it could be the Emma Stone character.
@caitlyncarvalho7637 I think that depends on the viewer...
i just watched the help before watching this video, but never through the movie ever i thought that emma stone is a white savior. she's the steptool for aibee & the other maids to publish their story, and that aibee is the main writer since it's clear in the beginning that she reads it out to emma stone
@@pyromaniac8736 Maybe other people are smarter than me, but at the end I was frankly left confused. It seemed possible that the book was an "as told to" kind of writing. We were left to figure it out ourselves I guess. But that's just me.
"12 Years a Slave" and "Get Out" were truthful and honest even though one was a horror fiction, it was still very honest about what is being done to Black minds in America. We don't need saving, we need justice!
@@steveddad4385 Only if 1A is illegal
@@steveddad4385 If you like telling people what to perhaps you should have been there to stop your cohorts from urinating and defecating on the Capit0l building on Jan 6. Did you forget what your brethren did?How they treated the police? They tried to form the dumbest coup known to history! Not very civilized or regulated. Shame.🤔
@@steveddad4385 Your dysfunctional kin's dumbest and most disgusting failed coup ever, really hit home for you😁. Trust, Jan 6 will be in every history book around the world. No one will ever forget the stupidity of that day.
And it was all done by racist, trump supporting good old boys! The world will remember for ever. Sad.
@@FNFIHOCTW
Did you just say something rac ist ?
Blk rac ist a hole
@@FNFIHOCTW brethren? calling that a coup is a hilarious joke almost as funny as that peaceful protest in portland that caught buildings on fire and smashed the windows out of shops........assaulted people killed 13 people on average for every rio oohh sorry mean peaceful demonstration that occurred. ever gonna talk about your brethren ever gonna talk about the babies that died in chicago this month to black on black crime more than were killed in the last 4 years by cops. nothing guaranteed nothing just more rhetoric about how you have to change the top before you change the community..... also many of the protestors at the capitol riot were black too and hispanic and asian...it wasnt all white people despite what cnn tells you.
Personally, I'm still waiting for a movie where a Native American man or woman is the lead.
Edit: OKAY EVERYONE! I've seen The New Mutants and have no way to access Smoke Signals. Naturally Natural was an excellent movie worth watching and just heard of a CW show, Trickster. Definitely seems based on a creature from tribal lore, can't recall which. Also, yes, I saw Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron in middle school!
New edit: there's a character in Lovecraft Country who's presented as Two-Spirit. Who could've been groundbreaking got controversially (spoiler alert) killed off.
Yea, that will sell.
I wont be satisfied till I see a 1/4 Asian, 3/4 Hispanic paraplegic transgender main character!
@TK Wallace there's another, though it's French and the guy is a secondary prime lead. Brotherhood of the Wolf.
Perhaps native Americans should actually bother to make movies then.
@@jonathanbowen3640 they've made an effort to be known in virtually every field that whites are known to be in, only to get obscured and overlooked. At best, we see them as secondary or cameo necessary. Indian in the Cupboard, for example. Or The New World. Or Netflix's The Vault. Or Twilight. None of the Native American actors are in the prime lead. They're either second lead, side character, or a cameo. Hollywood doesn't look kindly upon Natives, sadly, neither do many white Americans who are okay with slamming them with arrogant insults and stereotypes, demands to speak English instead of their tribal tongues, physical harassment, etc.
But hey, who knows? Since Bong Joon Ho got an Academy Award, maybe (just maybe), if Natives made a movie, we might actually pay attention for once.
I am so glad that Freedom Writers was brought up. I am so sick of the “white teacher who was the only one that believed in inner city kids therefore is the bridge to their success” troupe.
But it was a true story, no? Wtf
oh yes, discourage anyone from helping others just because they thought about that first and actually did something in real life, like Erin Gruwell, Jaime Escalante and many less known teachers who could just stick with the program and let underprivileged kids actually believe they will never succeed. WOW.
@javi ruiz there is a movie like that, that is heavily underrated called Stand and Deliver starring Denzel Washington.
julijakeit they aren’t saying that, they’re just pointing out how white people are often glorified more than minorities for doing the same thing. It’s the “oh wow they care about minorities even though they’re white” trope, like if a POC does it it’s not as altruistic because they’re a minority themself, thus placing the white person on a moral pedestal a minority could never reach. It’s pretty problematic.
that movie wasn't accurate anyways. the actual school was not really a poor inner city school anyways. it was a primarily white school in a decent area and the kids wanted to participate in that book.
As a Latina and mixed raced kid I feel like my eyes have been opened. We need more content like this. Thank you.
you cant be a Latina and mixed-race, Latinas are already mixed race.
People are so obsessed with race in the U.S. that they’re always thinking in terms race
Eh Democrats are as racist as Republicans, dont be fooled by this dumb stuff. If Democrats wanted democracy they would just suggest to take down two party establishment for the sake of Representative Multiparty system. Its just racism sells like hotcakes. I hate them both equally. Malcolm X said "Liberals are like foxes, and Republicans are like wolves"
“Whites always coming in and demanding respect like they deserve it.” Queen!!!! Exactly!
@Robert's workz exactly... she’s a goddess
Get it straight, it’s liberal whites. Conservative whites don’t do that at all.
@@IslenoGutierrez How about you get it straight! Its a collective and we see right through your bull shit. Don’t make me fucking laugh. I love how conservatives think their so different like it wasn’t the entire fucking south that had slaves. No ones talking about the north so don’t be like ohh well they had them too. Exactly the fucking point. BOTH
@@loveoflife3081 Who cares if white conservatives had slaves in the past, they don’t now and they weren’t and aren’t playing white savior like liberal whites today... matter of fact, you forgot it was the Democrats that invented the KKK? But I’m not one to do dwell on what happened in the past, that’s what liberal whites do and get offended on behalf of other races...
@@IslenoGutierrez The fact you’re don’t get parallelism is really pathetic and also that shit does matter. That’s like telling a Jew who cares if those people had concentration camps. hun reevaluate some things.
"The white savior features feel-good movies with happy endings which almost comfort viewers with a false sense that the ongoing complex problem of racism is solved by the end of a two-hour movie"
Exactly, racism doesnt end when the ending of a movie is happy. It's something that still happens and stills hurts people, that's one of the reasons why the Black Lives Matter movement exists.
Preach
Reminds me of Hairspray the movie
BLM exists not for reasons of racism. Its more liek a cult or religion. ITs about a story and feeling part of a group feeling liek they are making positive change. When in fact there is basically no racism in he west and hasnt been any for decades and its less of a problem than things like, addiction, poor food , lack of exercise, education inequality, environmental issues. etc. But to fix the actually problems is difficult, All BLM do is imagine a problem that mostly isn't there as an excuse to get angry and smash things and be nasty. For 99% of minoirty groups in the west racism is the LAST problem that they need to worry about its such a minor issue
@@jonathanbowen3640 How easy it must be for a white man as yourself to say theres "no racism in the west".
Omg, of course it doesn't end when the movie ends in general! Nobody affirms that. The racism end between the protagonist of the movie itself. The happy ending stands for a point of start. Leaving the viewer with a good feeling is part of how a movie teaches important things. There are white saviors of small realities like there are black saviors. It's a matter of collaboration, otherwise this issue can go on forver if the part that is offending (the whites) don't help against it.
Sister Act 2 portrayed the BLACK savior of her own community, a black woman fixing children up and helping them. It was a refreshing change, now that I think about it.
Also lean on me... or the movie with lean on me in it
@@raphaelasholder that was based on a true story 🤩
BOTH Sister Act movies actually
Also great debaters
Well that's the Strong Black Woman trope
the fact that ive seen almost all of these movies in school is upsetting.
Same here doesn't help that in the blind side there were barely any good properly represented black charecters only Michael's brother and her was in for pess than 2 forgetful minutes
It is indeed deeply troubling that you watch movies in school instead of learning.
The worst thing is how all these movies have been historically acclaimed by the critics and by the audiences
yea, its almost like they were judged by a generation of people who had actual problems instead of needing to manufacture them!
Boo hoo
Please do one on autistic characters and tropes in media. The good, the bad, and the problematic. Not autistic myself, but I find it interesting and there are not a lot of videos on it.
As an autistic, I would love this.
Me too it’s something that should be addressed
That being said, I feel like this hopefully future video includes the fact that Autism Speaks is a terrible ableist organization and how that affects how autistics are presented in so many things.
I’m autistic, I’d definitely love a video on that!
The Helen Keller trope or Richard the Third trope
Did people actually watch the help and think “oh wow that white girl really solved racism”? I sure didn’t.
Yes. A lot of people, unfortunately.
@@Aster_Risk It isn't about whether or not she solved racism. The problem as suggested in this video is that racism is not shown as a systematic problem but more about individual experiences.
Obivously she didnt solve it completley, it is just a movie teaching people what it was actually like back then through the words of the maids in the film. One persons actions never completley solve an issue although it is a step to doing better in society. It is by no means saying the problem is over the end nothing is that simple.
I remember watching it and getting annoyed by how it kept focusing back on Emma Stone's personal life and crap. I can't remember a time when I heard an entire room groan when it became obvious that it was a white savior focused movie
Uh no people think “wow she solved a problem that was based on racism”
Hairspray is such a white saviour movie, I'm surprised it hasn't been talked about more
Really? I’m black and I’ve never thought of the movie like that. Can you explain why you think that? I’m curious to hear your opinion.
Originally “Hairspray” could be considered satire, so the characters are blatantly over the top. The musical with Queen Latifah and John Travolta didn’t really do satire as much as the original.
Hairspray is so good tho. But yea I could see that
Tablixa j I don’t think so. Tracy isn’t really a savior in the film. Tracy isn’t the sole reason as to why they integrate at the end. She’s not trying to “save them”, she’s trying to support their cause in any way they can. And she didn’t even win the competition at the end.
Theres a difference between a white savior and a white person who just support equal rights.
@@vernicegirl8987 Huge agreement. Not only that, the competition ends with a black girl winning it all. Tracy didn't do anything 'savior-like' the whole time. She supported them in their movement against racism, even to the point that she was happy that the black girl once and began the intergration of blacks among the whites in the famous show. She is far from a 'white savior', she's written as a legit ally to the cause.
In India, we have a saying, "When the white man came, darkness entered our world"
I know an Indian guy that is thankful of the colonization of India 😂. He said they needed to be civilized. Of course he is a staunch Republican.
@@timothyo718 Imagine thinking your culture and people mean nothing and that the white man needed to come and save them, when in all reality, all tribes of humans across the globe were doing perfectly fine for thousands of years before their arrival.
The Nazis said the same about Jews. This kind of knee-jerk racist hatred is very common in socialist countries.
@@razatiger22 In fact Muslims were waging a war of conquest in India, the Indian raj played the European powers off against each other and used them to defeat these invaders. All the tribes of humans across the globe have been merrily screwing each other over for thousands of years, with the various socialist gangs being the most effective, ruthless, exploitative and hypocritical thus far.
That's quite rasisit imagine saying the same sentence about black people...stop define people by they color, seriously...-_-
This is great! However, the Black woman you cast to voice this doesn’t only have to voice “Black related” videos. Please allow her to narrate other videos on other topics you talk about. Having her voice only videos that deal with Black issues tokenizes her. Love the channel!
Thank you!!!! I've been noticing that
Lol only show her black vids then shut the vault!!
Yes exactly!!
I agree completely! We need to hear her more, not just when it’s on black issues.
It's true. Also, why was it necessary for a woman of color to narrate this video? Was that some type of perceived necessity?
This trope always bothered me. It gives the white viewers the sense of, “there’s no way I could ever be racist! I’m nice!”
Andrea Mendenhall Right, but there isn’t a whole genre of movies of upperclass people giving homeless people shoes. It’s awesome that things like that happen, and it should continue to, where white people use their privilege to help black people where they can. but like the video is pointing out, the focus is on the white person, and i think it serves as wish-fulfillment
Andrea Mendenhall Okay so you’re just not going to engage with the subject with genuine effort or critical thinking. Got it. I won’t waste my time.
@Andrea Mendenhall "there are plenty of movies showing black people as heroic"
what is your point?
Yeah. And it gives them the illusion that the only way to be racist is the most obvious way. It gives them a 'racism is a thing of the past' kind of attitude.
Because heaven forbid any white person ever not feel race guilt.
I think what did it for me in The Help was when the “saddest scene” was Constantine left Skeeter’s family. The mother fired her because she was too old to work. The whole sad thing was that Constantine left and died before Skeeter could see her. And I was like “wait… Constantine got to go home and be with her family instead of working her poor body into the ground for this white family, and the sad thing is that she wasn’t waiting around for Skeeter to come home?”
The heartbreaking part was the way that this old woman was treated after a life of service and even love for the family of which she was a part. Cannot imagine how deeply that had to hurt her.
I always viewed it as that it was sad the Skeeter didn't have a chance to say goodbye.
The way I screamed "Han" when I heard that white character saying he know more than the black character about blackness just because he's in the streets, what kind of bs is that?💀
why would either of them know more than the other about living in a bad neighborhood. that shit doesnt make sense only to someone who see's racism everywhere.
@@bailechuind6194 Well the thing is blackness isn't inherent to the neighborhood you're living in but to the person. Nobody that listened well and understood the nuance said that. You can live in a poor neighborhood and know nothing about blackness and vice versa. If you think blackness=poorness, sorry to inform you but it's racist. Do what you want with that information.
Damn, as a Black man I appreciate y’all acknowledging the “white trope” in movies I appreciate that a lot
Well they haven’t used their 1M platform to support the BLM so it doesn’t sit well with me that two white women are profiting of explaining what white savior is and not use their platform to support Black voices right now!
Stephanie Polanco bruh at least they’re freaking trying y’all always complaining. As a black woman this video really opened my eyes and I appreciate it
Stephanie Polanco they literally made a 20 min video addressing black eraser in civil rights and race. The take highlighted black lives matter you are just being overly critical.
@@stephaniepolanco5373 so everything that whites do to help to fix the racism is wrong, useless and for earning reason.
Well, that's racist, thank you
Stephanie Polanco lol it’s never enough. Anything less than kneeling and asking for forgiveness is racist at this point.
I also want to add that the real life Hidden Figures scientist Catherine Johnson stated she NEVER had to use a designated bathroom in another building at NASA. She used whichever one was closer even if it was the one that white women used and it wasn’t an issue. Her words!
I hadn't known that. Kind of disappointing to know how much the movie fabricated for the sake of conflict.
Man "hollywood" played us again and again.
I believe that the real Katherine was not allowed in the room with all the other scientist and men too, but I could be wrong.
@@MortMe0430 Movies ALWAYS exaggerate and even fabricate events to make it more dramatic to make it more entertaining. You should never exact total accuracy from a movie based on true events. Like they say, it's only based on.
@Greg_Delta What
being from Africa myself, i've seen it so many times. When a white person comes to our countries, they're treated like saviors, like they are Jesus who's coming back
Guys don't forget that scene from Game of Thrones when Daenerys frees the slaves (all of whom are black/brown) and they cry pathetically and carry her up. Bro the white saviour trope was *so* strong there 🤢
Daenerys was a villain and she definitely had a complex-superiority about being « the chosen one » and « the savior » so that was a good concept.
Yup one of the main reasons I will never watch this show
They call her “Meesa”. Sounds a bit similar to something…
@@Widad.A True but that imagery does damage to everyone who witnesses it.
@@H.Rvenice so you also never see the tropes subversion, which is grrm speciality also funny thing, denerys herself is herself a minorety and a foraigner no matter where she goes also she does not start out privilaged.
The narrator of this Take is April J. Barber. Give her her roses, please.
Big facts
And maybe have her narrate more videos, even the non-black ones
Have her narrate more if she's willing.
Not to mention the writing credit to Cara Washington too!
Yes! it would be great, if The Take was more transparent with who writes / cuts / produces / narrates the videos!
"Is this some sort of white guilt thing?" is one of the most accurate lines spoken in any of these movies.
yes
It might be or simply a person not liking prejudice based on skin tone.
@@loveandletlove8529 Nah, it's white guilt
@@leahnoname2831,sometimes it is ,sometimes it is not,prejudizing and stereotyping people by race is literally what racism is and we're trying to stop all of it,some people have it in them not to prejudize people,some don't and think it's the Height of wisdom to prejudize.
@@loveandletlove8529 Like I said, saying "I don't see color" is ignoring ALL OF THE PROBLEMS that I go threw as A POC.
I’m a white woman. I have had the huge blessing of growing up in a mixed race family surrounded by a vibrant, multicultural community. So here’s the twist: when I was in elementary school in the 1960’s in California I did not recognize when my friends and family were being subjected to racism. I did not understand it was about their skin color. I just thought other kids were being mean for no reason. I could not even have told you that my Uncle Rafi was black, he had brown skin and was born in Morocco. He wore really cool shoes and a huge Afro. I have many many stories like that. Dinner table conversations about racism were about about white monsters and black angels in Mississippi. Maybe it’s because I was a white child raised with white privilege, but in college and later in my professional life I just could not wrap my head around why white people are still so screwed up about race. Then I went to Seminary 15 years ago to become a minister. A miracle happened when I was required to take a workshop covering white privilege. That concept hit me like a ton of bricks, and I finally understood why White people can’t understand where racism stems from unless we first recognize our white privilege. I was a white kid so when my friends of color were being hassled, I was never hassled. I just could not grasp, as a kid, that I was protected by my white skin. And of course, I still am.
good job daniella want a cookie
bruh 😑😑
@@micaelalue6441 shut up and go watch your cartoon kid. Youre not her audition
"I'm a privileged white woman, I'll do better, I'll give my entire income, house and car to homeless blacks, I'll be patronizing to them and treat them like retarded children who can't take care of themselves..." Do it, unless your racist.
White privelege is a myth. Theyve been indocrinating kids with it for a couple decades. Look into who came up with it as a modern concept. We are not in Jim Crow anymore.
I do not believe Dances With Wolves uses the white savior trope (completely). Yes it centers around a civil war union officer, but the character John Dunbar doesn't save the Lakota. And the Lakota aren't portrayed as completely helpless until he came along. They are shown to be quite capable and fierce (especially if you watch the director's cut). Also throughout the movie the main character is aware of the soon to come doom to the tribes of the great plains. We don't see him actively fight against that the way we see that in other movies which use the white savior trope. At first it's about him wanting to see something before it's gone (as he says), but later it becomes something he fears (meaning the westward expansion).
I think Dances with Wolves was made in the mold of the white savior trope, and you can see elements of it, but I believe it does enough to be nuanced about its approach. I think a modern way to do this story would be to either remove the Dunbar character or sideline him to center around the tribe.
This is just one of the many reasons the movie "Get Out" was so good. *Spoiler* It starts with the lead female seeming like the "white savior" when she defends her boyfriend at a police traffic stop. Yet, she ends up being the main villian of the whole story.
@Iris Ormond I know what your trying to say but think about it we don’t know that till we get to that part so at first watch it’s just what you would think
@@JohnnaReviews well it’s kind of both. You realize it after that she was covering her tracks but straight into it, they set it up to seem like a white savior movie
@@mryuksiesta I loved that movie because as a black person, I felt how uncomfortable he was when the parents were being so liberal that it was cringey. Like, selfhating white people.
Sink lol
Yes, a great story that played on black people's emotions and caused mass hysteria. Black people were literally panicking about white female "wranglers" on social media and saying this is a current problem. The majority of white people are not racist. Lol.
Black and poc characters are basically the manic pixie dream girls of white saviour films, that needs to change
And start acting like pieces of shit, like people in the real world?
I mean, feel free to make your own movies and not have any white people in them. Just, understand we will do the same.
What really has to change is tolerance of any film that shows black and white people in America cooperating. The point of equating whiteness with capitalism is to foment the right sort of racism. Black people must be compelled to hate white people, and white people have to be compelled to accept guilt for everything and pay up. Only then will the revenue stream for this socialist scheme start paying some real dividends.
@@jackwhite1742 No. That would imply that alternate opinions are tolerated. There is only one viewpoint tolerated in the new socialist reich, and that is whatever the socialist elite decide upon. Everyone and everything must fall into lockstep with it or be destroyed.
Remember. Socialism isn't about letting the proles do what they want. The masses are cattle, and the socialist vanguard are the farmers. What do farmers do with cattle?
@@DrCruel Fair point.
As a white woman, I see this all too often in other white people. They do not relate to the plight of POC unless it's personal to them or its the "cool" thing to do like during the BLM protests. I try to be aware of not falling into the white savoir complex mentality. Also, i need to have uncomfortable conversations with other white people and uplift the voices in the communities of POC. My role is that of an ally, not the main character. It's not my experience so its not my story to tell. I think more white people need to watch this.
That’s really good - I personally don’t even like The term “ally”. I find that term cringe honestly - it should be just a normal good person. That’s the point we’ve gotten to when things that normal humans should do are being praised and Nobel peace prize worthy
WHITE SAVIOR MENTALITY 😆 🤣 😂 THERE IS NO SAVIOR PROPHET OR MESSENGER OF GOD/ALLAH THAT CAME FROM EUROPE LOL YOU'RE FUNNY
Yet you fall into this category.
" I'm a white woman" tisk tisk.
I don't think Green Book is really an example of the "White Savior" dynamic. Viggo Mortensen's character helps him out in a couple of situations, but the black guy also helps him out in other situations. The story is about two guys setting aside their egos in order to "save" each other
Isn't that "The Defiant Ones"?
The take really kills it every time
They're great.
They REALLY do. It's telling that my favourite video of theirs so far has been The Strong Black Woman Trope, as it's made me reevaluate how often this archetype really pops up in the media! 🤔
Thank you for a very relevant topic 💕
I love how they analize characters, realize the trops portrayed in series and then summarise it in one video for us. Truly interesting.
It would be nice to see all of the narrator’s do the video bumper with the clapperboard
Please do the “exotic Asian woman” trope!
and the thot latina mami trope
The magical poc
[This comment was originally made to someone suggesting that The Take do an episode on the "Old Kung Fu Master" trope, as see in Karate Kid, Kill Bill, and other Hollywood movies. This comment has since been deleted.
I was defending the aging "Asian Master" trope, and I said the trope is not racist by itself, but a stock character commonly found in Hong Kong movies, especially kung fu movies from Hong Kong.]
Though to be fair, the Hong Kong film industry created the kung fu master trope. There's a reason kung fu movies were so popular among African Americans in the 1970s, and why kung fu masters often appeared in Blaxploitation films. Many Hong Kong films had an overt an anti-colonialist message (Jet Li's movie "Wong Fei Hong" (Once Upon a Time in China), for example), and the setting of China itself presented an alternative to the Eurocentric narratives of Hollywood.
But, I'm pretty sure Italian opera created the "Madame Butterfly" trope...
@@winstonho0805c kung fu films were also readily available to the black community! We have a proficiency for being interested in niche things. Look at how many blerds exist: watching anime and gaming secretly
I suggest you watch Be kind rewind channel it talks about female actors and the oscars and it dive on the relationship between Hollywood and asians/blacks/latinas in movies..
When I see this trope in movies I instantly tune out and change the film.
Unless it has Samuel L Jackson then I’m watching
White Savior trope, or, as i like to say, "We are going to make a movie about racism but we don't want to make white people look bad"
So sweet, as if only white people could be racist ….
@@Celisar1 I didn't said all the white people are racist, what I said was that the White Savior trope is a poor way for the white people behind the scenes of these movies, tv series and etc to say "Am sorry for all the racism we did in the past and the ones that happen on a daily basis in our modern world that resulted in lots of hate crimes around the world and we still didn't find a solution for these, but hey, look at these small little actions we are doing to elevate people of color, that should work"
I haven't seen the movie version of "To Kill a Mockingbird", but the book is definitely a book about white people. It talks about their culture, their conflicts among themselves, and about a white girl growing up within it. Their interactions with the black community are one part of the story, but white society is the subject of the book. To me, it's not the same as something like "Hidden Figures", which was a black story with a white hero character.
Also the overall message of To Kill A Mockingbird is about learning to empathise with other people who have very different life experiences. Racism is the main subject of this theme but it also runs through other parts of the story which are not about race; Scout also has to learn to empathise with the mentally disabled Boo Radley, and to understand that while Mayella Ewell's false accusation towards Tom Robinson is morally wrong, that she is also a victim of class and gender inequality and her abusive father. For this theme to work the way it does, the story could only really be told from the perspective of a naive and privileged white child, as the POV (Scout) has to start off the book being somewhat ignorant of the social ills such as racism, and poverty which exist in the society around her.
Joan Hall. In my understanding, Harper Lee intended to write an entire series of books about the Southern white middle class, which she regarded as being invisible in literature, but got sidetracked by the huge success of „Mockingbird“ and never completed it. While she supported civil rights, race was never her main focus.
It's a wonderful piece of art told from a white child's perspective
@Sightless Sniper If it's supposed to be about racism, it should include the people subject to prejudice.
@Sightless Sniper she seems to be defending To Kill A Mockingbird from criticism; not attacking it for not being told from a black character's perspective as you seem to have assumed. Try not to jump so quickly to being offended; you are letting your feelings get in the way of being rational
Video suggestion:
the "Lightskin, Biracial Black woman" lead, explained.
I would love a video about that. It seems too often in Black movies that when the woman is supposed to be beautiful, desirable, educated, she tends to be lightskin or biracial. But when a movie needs someone ignorant, "ratchet", ugly, single mom, or aggressive, overwhelmingly those roles go to darker-skined women.
Especially in terms of romance. Whenever a dark-skinned girl is a lead, the story is usually about overcoming challenges or something. The only exceptions I can think of are The Princess and the Frog and Joyful Noise. Also where are the introverted dark-skinned black girls at? We exist!
I think they should absolutely address colorism
soooo many relationships with lightskin females and darkskin males
@Rosalee Smith Get that DNA profile done. Just because you are mixed from generations back and culturally "Black" does not mean you are no longer mixed. Watch DNA reveals. Light-skinned Blacks tend to be biracial genetically speaking
to be honest, as a white person growing up in an small, all white community, these movies did show me what racism is and the horrors associated. which ended up inspiring me to eventually study black history in college. it is something i’ve always kept to my heart and am always trying to educate my white peers. it sucks i feel like i’m still to this day having to educate them, especially with all the information out there, but if anything it’s truly a sign just how ugly it is out there, still.
I love this channel because the videos are well explained and so thought-provoking that the comment section is as insightful as the video.
That last quote really hit home - "There is not a monolithic black experience."
@Templar you don't get it
@Templar no one asked for your input
@Templar
Nah...
Most of you are prejudiced.
That's monolithic to me.
@Templar you think we don’t know that...? That’s like saying “all lives matter” as a response to “black lives matter”. Like yeah we know, but that’s not the point. Stop making this about you
That’s why I like Toni Morrison books.
Critics "accused her of not writing about white people," assuming all her readers were white; she's spent her career "knocking the white gaze off your shoulder."
Hilton Als, one of the stellar interviewees, says that the white world is peripheral to Morrison's writing. The author herself asks about Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" - "invisible to whom?"
Toni Morrison was an angel among mortals. RIP
Right! Im 1000 % sure we are allowed to live for ourselves,not for you.
@@avawilliams5827 What she said can be reversed on any other race
KKBOSS MClovein what do you mean?
7:36- To be fair, it was based on historical events, Lawrence of Arabia was an actual person.
12:56 The writers really tried it when they made the white teacher say "And honey the money ain't that good" right after the black girl spoke AAVE. It felt like she was mocking her.
This really needed to be made. Some people really be applauding themselves after watching The Help
So you'd rather I not know what it was like for black people in the 1960s. At least I heard a few stories. It all brings an opening up then maybe we can do something together from here forward.
Kelli Elaine Nobody’s saying “don’t educate people on racism,” it’s just that portraying racism as a thing of the past that’s been solved by white people (deemed as highly moral and good-hearted for not being racist) dangerously silences the conversation about race. Having a white protagonist seemingly “solve racism” in a movie in a way that the white audience can identify with creates the illusion that racism is a problem only limited to a select few bad people. It also fills the white audience with an empty sense of benevolence or moral superiority because they think they’d act the same way as the white savior in those instances, when in reality they’re doing nothing but watching a movie.
Orange Banana imagine posting a defensive comment on a video explaining why white saviorism is problematic. This video literally explains why centering discussions of racism around white perspectives is counterproductive, and buddy that commented above just showed us why. 🤣🤣🤣 Lots of white folks only want to hear about racism from white perspectives. But imagine men leading discussions around misogyny?! Or straight folks leading discussions around homophobia?
Nia C facts👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
@@kellielaine5848 there are books written by black people where their history isn't white washed. I don't think I need to tell you why the help is problematic this video explained it. When you want to learn about black experiences you read books by black people not white. It's literally that simple. If you still don't understand this then I'm sorry. I'm a brown person you know what I do when I want to learn about cultures I read own voices books
I feel like the best real life example of this is the whole trope would be the Abraham Lincoln freed/saved african american slaves ordeal. Thought it's not entirely untrue, it often dismisses other black historical figures who greatly contributed to black history
edit: plus if i remember correctly, his decision regarding freeing african Americans did not come entirely from the goodness of his heart alone. It had something to do with with preserving the union or smthing like that as a reply below said...
this is some middle school type history stuff but tbh i cant remember the details 😕😞
Yes 🙌
I have also heard that Lincoln didn't particularly care about slavery, too -- he just wanted to preserve the union.
THIS
“Not entirely untrue” you just debunked yourself fool
@@DoctorTauri Acknowledging nuance in history isn't debunking yourself fool
Thanks for the education. I honestly wasn’t aware of this before.
In some movies this trope is most definitely shown but i dont think "hidden figures" should have been shown as an example in the background. Yes there was the one man who was a decent human being but the movie really focused on the womans struggles and they over came them through working hard and fighting back in my opinion, definitely one of my favorite movies.
Gosh I hate this trope in films even doe I love the help, I still don’t like how they used the trope to have black women tell their stories through the white women. The most ones they use are for the Native American/Asian tribe who are considered “savages” or the white teachers that helped inner city black and Latin school students. I always hated how white savior movies always win Oscars but movies that are really shaking the tables of race relations and are artistically groundbreaking like the farewell, the hate u give, sorry to bother you and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are left in the dust. Moonlight and parasite are the only one exceptions but overall I just don’t like white savior movies
Ditto. I used to love movies like Glory and Dances with Wolves and they were often shown in school. After reaching into adulthood, I realize how much these movies hurt, especially black people like myself. They further perpetuate the stereotype that PoC are lost and can't manage anything without a white person showing them the way and I'm sick of it. I refuse to watch those movies anymore.
You can still love 'The Help' and hate the trope right? Because the problem isn't the fact that The Help has a white savior trope. It's the persistent use of the white savior trope as one of the few ways movies tackle racial issues at all, while also not giving enough room for movies who centre the view of POC-characters. From what I gather from this video, the balance is way off.
Sandra you can still like a movie and still not be fond of the trope. I still love the help mainly on the strength of Octavia Spencer and viola Davis performances in addition to exploring the aspect of literature since I’m into it myself but I don’t like that they had the “good racist and bad racist” trope with skeeter and her frenemies. I also felt it was strange that they had skeeter write the experience of the black maids if it’s pointed in the film ailbeen is equally a good writer they should’ve more focused on her
I love the book "The help" because author talked about her never being able to understand what it really is like being a black woman and what she really wanted to show was that two women should kniw that theres nothing really standing between them and they are way closer than they realize. It wasn't white saviorism, Aibeleen(I'm sorry English isn't my first language can't spell names) was the one who wrote the book and she earned the job. Of course the white lady helped her out but really tho those black women made a change, Skipper was just there to support.
Well, Black Panther was praised for strong black racial preference, although being a shallow film in general.
Plus the number of successful movies featuring a majority of black cast or movies about fighting black racism has really grown in the last decade.
And Blackwashing has become a much more common phenomena than whitewashing.
Anyway, this trope is going to die very soon and be replaced with “Black Savior”, you don’t have to worry.
Please make a video about the "gay man trope" including all the stereotypes around gay people on movies and tv.
As an extremely Masculine bi sexual Male I second this. LGBTQ+ is so broad but I swear it is so narrow in cinema
Ah yes! "token gays". Lesbian and bi girls barely appear on productions that aren't exclusively gay.
@@ldra795 unless they're the sex appeal ofc
The bully turns out to be in the closet and dates the guy/girl he/she has been bullying...
omg yes LOL and how the gay character somehow existence has no problems or real life issue whatsoever but just to support the mc’s situation only KANSJSJS
I loved The Blind Side & The Help, but this was a good eye opener. I had no idea this was a trope or an issue
Thank you so much for educating us.
Pls do the “Fat girl” trope in film
I swear i hate it whenever they portrayed a fat girl being bullied or left by his ex and she has to have a glow up and be more “pretty” and they basically just make them lose weight when they could’ve just give them more things to experience and not change themselves by appearance only
Yes!!!
@@Breh3543 insatiable in short
The one where it’s like fat women can’t actually be real women and have to be over the top and act weird? I guess there are some people are like that in real life but in films it’s literally always heavier women acting that way.
Have you guys seen the fake trailer for "white savior: the movie" with Amber Ruffin and Seth Meyers? Educational and hilarious
Yes! It’s great!
I LOVE it!
God damn. I never noticed/thought of it that way. Really eye opening. Thank you for the enlightening experience.
This was so informative! Thank you!
white allies reinventing themselves as saviours :D
what's new
Malcolm X: "Nothing" love that quote.
Malcolm X actually deeply regretted saying that-
"I regret that I told her she could do ‘nothing.’ I wish now that I knew her name, or where I could telephone her, and tell her what I tell white people now when they present themselves as being sincere, and ask me, one way or another, the same thing that she asked.
Well, I’ve lived to regret that incident….Something like this kills a lot of argument. . . I tell sincere white people, ‘Work in conjunction with us… Let sincere white individuals find all other white people they can who feel as they do - work trying to convert other white people who are thinking and acting so racist."
It's funny people love that quote, when it is essentially letting white people off the hook- saying the best thing you can do is nothing. You don't have to make any effort, any engagement, just sit back. Malcolm's early divisiveness didn't help anyone.
in later years X revisited some of his extreme thoughts in the youth. The truth is that there is no resolution if there is no collaboration. Black and whites have to swallow their pride and work togheter to make it better. Turning in enemies those who are not racist just because they're not white is fucking racists itself and this makes the BLM not intentionally (by the most) an hyprocrit movement
The real thing to say would be "Talk less, listen more"
It's a catch-22. If whites don't help, it's, "They don't care about us." If white do help, it's, "This is a white savior complex." So, wtf are people supposed to do? Just segregate and ignore each other maybe?
@@lemmh2 white people should help, like everyone, but don't expect a gift for doing that, and comprehend that they are not demigods protecting of poor little mortals, besides that, white people should help, just not be the main character in the fight
The woman who was in the movie Hidden Figures. Taraji played Katherine Johnson, who died this year. No one gave her recognition..
So I’m here to announce it. Just some enlightenment. Hopefully people will see this and look her up.
Edit: Sorry I was misguided and misguiding everyone else. In MY area no one gave recognition for her achievements and legacy. Sorry I assumed it was the same for everyone else. I still stand behind my comment about her not getting the recognition she deserved. She is very educated so when I found about her and the other too women (Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson) I was really inspired. They were being discriminated against front and back and still fought to have d’wight man on moon im js 🤷🏽♀️ give sis a little more than a news article with her name on it (but I agree with most of you)
When you say "they didn't give her recognition" what exactly do you mean? Recognition how? Because she has a Barbie doll, books about her and NASA named a building after her. What else do you think needs to be done?
She was widely mourned in the scientific community, but I don't know if it extended much beyond that.
gonna watch this today
@@sassybdiy7565 And Obama gave her a ceremony and medal, didn't he?
Dylan McCreary yes exactly I’m saying outside of science. I met many people who didn’t know she died this year.
I love this channel! Great job! Wonderful content!
This is such a good video. It should be shared in classrooms and other educational, conversational spaces!
Can y’all make a video on the spicy “exotic” Latina trope
Dear Lord yes!
Considering that Harper Lee established subtext in 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and 'Go Set A Watchman' to make Atticus Finch a bigot, I'm not sure you can call Atticus Finch - the literary character - a white savior. The film, most definitely (the imagery paints it all over the place); but the novel, with authorial intent, makes it more complicated.
I just don't want the movie and the book to be falsely equated in this sense.
Ikr...The books are much more complex than what they painted it here. Go set a Watchman basically destroys the assumption that Atticus is somehow a white savior, because he isn't a hero, something his daughter only realises as she grows up and the historical scene starts to change
@@mochicinno_ Even in the first book there were subtle hints of Atticus's patronizing attitude towards black people, which the "town drunk" called him out for. I really liked that touch, because it shows that racism isn't always as obvious as attending a KKK rally.
You don't really think they go on depth. They are just good at formulating generally accepted ideas about movies like "white saviour=bad" into 20-25 long videos so they can clicks and look intellectual without ever really provoking any thought
@@catlady4858 if anything thats just more proof that its a white savior story. Its a "aw, see! Even with all of his opinions about black people he was able to get this man off". Its typical.
@@thatblvckhippie1911 He wasn't able to get him off. Tom went to jail to await sentencing where he tried to escape and was shot. Atticus failed, and that's the point: society is so harsh and mean that we can't always find the heroes we need to save the day. If they do show up, they are imperfect and perhaps a reflection of the society they operate in. They won't or can't save the day. The movie hails Atticus as a hero while the books (particularly the sequel) make him a man - a man filled with anger and hate.
Thank u. I needed to hear this.
The novel that The Help film was based on is told from the perspectives of Skeeter, Minnie, and Abeline. I think the author did a good job of offering equal page time to each character.
The Help used to be a film I would rewatch every so often as a teenager. Upon reflection, and having not seen it for a long time. I wasn't aware of how sidelined the Black characters were for a white self-improvement arc at the time.
Then you should rewatch it. And understand that at the time, Black women had no voices and were kept down, Emma Stone’s character is used as the medium through which their story is told because she has the platform of being a writer. I’ve never once watched it and felt like racism is over, but felt like I couldn’t believe that’s how we used to be and that even during that time, there were people who didn’t see themselves as more or lesser human beings. The black women in that movie accepted Emma’s character and she accepted theirs. Isn’t that what fighting racism is about? Trying to accept each and every one of us as human beings regardless of background.
Get ahold of the book. In the book, the women pretty much get equal time in their story telling, the inequity of danger the black women put themselves in as opposed to the discomfort and relational problems the white woman found herself in is highlighted, and Skeeter herself has to wrestle through some pretty ugly revelations about her own attitudes when she encounters a couple black women who refuse to treat her like a savior. The movie was pretty much just Cliff notes.
@@southpark645 I digress
@@sebastianfeuerstein9306 ok
Abeline was the main character
I’m not sure why left leaning channels keep shifting the focus to Skeeter
please do one of the latinx tropes and stereotypes. The way American movies portrait latinx like only one culture and we are all the same
Agree! We're heterogeneous
And how, pray tell, are Whites portrayed in, let's say, Mexican movies?
Any sterotyping?
How about Indian moves or Chinese? Oh look! Full on stereotypes all 'round.
Seems ethnocentricity its is universal.
there's no such thing as latinx. fake made-up word.
@@cnnnpc4351 not true, it's a gender-neutral neologism
What's the purpose of the word "latinx" what happened to hispanic?
I enjoyed this and it was so insightful. Thank you
Thanks for the list.
I love this, "If you're not uncomfortable you're not paying attention"
yea its the type of dimwitted liberal snark that makes all the soccer moms cheer and feel good about themselves. im not uncomfortable woman you are offended by hairspray talking about white saviourism and white fragility. you so fragile its sad.
@@bailechuind6194 Shut it.
@577Fusilier seriously??? Asians make their bread and butter off of the backs of “blacks”. If Asians are so hated by “black people”, how is that even possible??? I’m not fraternizing any place where I hate someone, let alone spend my money there. Now with that being said, I DONT spend my money with most Asians as I don’t agree with some of the practices that they keep. That doesn’t mean that I hate them. It just means that I chose to spend my money with someone who will value myself as well as my money and respects it all in the process. If your biases about me affect your customer service towards me, then we have a problem. Therefore, I chose to treat others how I’d like to be treated and when that’s not an option, I remove myself from the offense. Simple as that. No hate involved. Stop trying to create something that doesn’t exist.
@@bailechuind6194 so just sit with everything like a sheep?
I’m Mexican myself and when I found out Erin Gruwell was actually Mexican.... I’m so shocked that I loved that movie not knowing the true hero was someone just like me. I’m an educator myself, and what could have been an inspiring story to me and women like me, it became a story about a white woman. They showed us “Stand & Deliver” at my school so much bc it was one of the only about a Hispanic man helping a class filled with Hispanic students.
video used the word queer to describe a gay black character . acceptable?
william furlong idk why the hell you think I’m the right person to answer this for you, but yea. It’s a word the LGBT community has taken and turned it around. It is very commonly used in media nowadays. Byye
I never knew they were Mexican. It would have been an inspiring story indeed. I would have been more inclined to talk about them. Now that I know I will research more and possibly speak of them as an example. Thank you for giving back.
great video but I don't like Lawrence of Arabia should be a part of the list. It's a movie about E. T. Lawrence, who is an important historical figure, so of course he is the main character. It also doesn't portray him as a saviour, especially later on when he actually goes on to okay the slaughter of another army and is shown to slowly lose his mind. Nobody watches that movie and thinks Lawrence saved the Arabs
Exactly. He's not even considered a hero among the Arabs, unlike Atticus Finch for instance. Only the English view him as a hero, bc of the narrative that Jackson Bendley had pushed (as he himself admitted when he met Prince Feisal). The Arabs, from what I've understood, initially view him as a hero, but then realized that he's veery flawed and he helps the Arab revolt mostly for himself, to satisfy his narcisistic savior complex, rather than to actually help the Arabs. Lawrence, the character, has white savior complex. The movie doesn't, imo. The movie, as the title suggests, is about Lawrence, not about the Arabs and their struggles, unlike The Help. And it makes it clear to us that Lawrence is far from the hero white people imagine him to be.
If you love this kind of movie I recommend Untouchable, Driving Mrs Daisy, Shawshank Redemption,Victoria and Adbul. It mainly focus is the friendship between 2 very different people
I’m only being honest but I never saw a problem with the white saviour because I didn’t really read into it I just watched the films but I’m so glad that I’m now educated on it because it makes total sense more ppl need to know about this because I didn’t know this much
Please... I have to admit some of the earlier films are just ridiculous. But the later ones? not really. if you are obsessed with certain ideas, particularly irrational ideas, you're going to find those ideas wherever you want. Whether they are there or not.
@Greg_Delta but the white saviour trope itself and everyone affected by it *isn't* propaganda?
@@deechonada So they found a handful of movies where that is the case, and ignore hundreds or even thousands of movies where that isn't the case? And somehow we are to believe this is some kind of problem? You know when people talk about representation in movies? And then there are all of those all black movies with no white characters/actors? But nobody says anything about it. But if there is one with all whites then people will complain about it. I just want people to stop making issues out of nothing and stop complaining about stuff. None of this better affect movies I like from being made.
The problem with "the white savior" theory is that your making a false narrative of white people always being the so called hero eventhough in real life thats not how the actual story goes. Yea you do have some good some bad but at the end of the day a lot of what you see on tv is either twists with lies and stereotypes or not true at all. That's why it is so important to know YOUR history guys. Letting "white people" tell YOUR story, that's what I have a problem with. You cant have someone else tell a story they never lived through.
@Jessica Tillman Thanks for this, I wanted to know how to be better, and somehow listening wasn't the first conclusion I came to. Listening and trying to understand.
The Take Channel.....
As an African American woman... thank you for bringing this uncomfortable subject to light. That was really brave.
@Emmanet Iroegbu she didn’t do crap
no it wasnt brave when everyone cheers you for doing it, charles barkley is brave thomas sowell is brave, this ideology is a self congratulating shit show.
How is this subject opposed? The like to dislike ratio is 49,000 to 2,000. How is this a brave act? Everyone seems to be praising them for it.
10 bucks says some white write this because anything against whites will sell today. You could say whitey killed the dinosaur and every other indoctrinated white would flock to praise it. Having a black girl read it just twists the knife. When we focus on fixing us we start winning, until then we're just victimizing ourselves, AGAIN
Dumbest comment ever
Very educational video - thank you!
This video was so well made
I was gonna come in here defending some of these movies but the points being made are so poignant I really think I cant say what's already been said. These really are "make white people feel good about not being racist" movies but for me as a kid growing up in southern texas they helped give me a frame of reference to act differently than my racist peers or family members.
However that doesnt omit the message here, and white people dont need to put themselves up on a pedestal for being a decent human being, (my semantic of decent being anti racist and not non racist as stated in the video). Thanks for educating me more on the issue and bringing light to it. I still find The Help to be a fun movie, but this gave me a refreshing and necessary perspective shift. Thank yall.
Blessings!
same here....
Even if Gran Torino plays with the WST , I think it's still a pretty good movie. I always saw it as an old man learning from his prejudices and passing the torch to the boy he deems to be a real son to him.
Gay.
Love this
"It's not enough in 2020 to be not racist. Not racist meaning 'i am passive when it comes to racism'. If you see it, you have to speak on it and call it out"
How many times you are going to comment Tzuyu. You know there is a edit button Koreaboo...
wondering ... as a white person, if I speak on it and call it out ... am I being all "white saviour-y"?
@@ThaTyphon the fact that you are more bothered by me commenting than the message of the video says a lot.
What if the racist person is Black?
@Harry Paul While there are many racist people in BLM, it doesn't mean they are Marxists, nor does it mean that Western Civilization doesn't have room for improvement.
This is great! thanks for making it
I learned a lot from this, thank you!
This take threw me right back to watching Disney's Gotta Kick it Up even as a little kid, it was weird to me that the ONLY white character was the hero? Like, if the entire school, staff, and everyone you see in the neighborhood is Hispanic, why wasn't the dance coach?
(Edit for movie title cuz I'm dumb)
Gotta kick it up...yeah I remember that too. Didn't think about that narrative till now
I've never heard of that movie before. Can you tell me what it's about?
The white coach wasn't the hero, though. She admits she was actually kind of a failure despite all of her potential because of her fear (which didn't disqualify her as an instructor, btw, it just was something she had to overcome and forgive herself for, and she didn't want the girls to make her mistake). Daisy, the team leader and best dancer, was hispanic, definitely not white.
And other commentor was right, title was Gotta Kick It Up. Si se puede was the team motto that Daisy came up with.
As soon as you mentioned si se puede I knew you were talking about gotta kick it up. Yeah, that movie could definitely be included within the white savior trope.
Another movie that reminded me of this is a movie called mcfarland or something but basically a white football coach moves to a town full of mexicans and basically makes them better ppl?? Yeah no thanks
Dont love that I only hear black voice narrations only on videos specifically about black people The Take.
Well, given that they voice their own videos, would you rather hear one of the two, _very_ white, women doing it? Or this?
@@ChaoticButterfly Or perhaps the black woman voicing other videos as well?
How do you know she’s black
@@kittycoutourxxx2706 I was wondering the same thing. How does anyone here know the skin color of the narrator?
@@kittycoutourxxx2706 We looked her up, she is Black,
sorry to bother you is so underrated it and it gets better over time.
We need a Deconstruction of Both Tropes with the White Savior, & Magical Negro switch Bodies, & turn it into a Movie.
As usual, love the commentary and just the whole channel in general. I am a big fan of The Take and recommend it to a lot of my friends. However, I do have one thought: I would love it if The Take had a wider variety of narrators for all of your videos, not just on the ones that are specifically focused on racial issues.
Anyways, keep up the good work, I look forward to the next video
I strongly agree
I too agree.
Amber Friendly I thought the same thing when the video started.
This. It's nice that they tried, but please don't have a black narrator JUST for this take, or the "strong black woman" take.
I came here to say the same thing! Thank you, Amber, for pointing this out!
I learn more on this channel than I ever have at school. Keep crushing it!
jjaajajajajaajaj me too
I love this channel but that saddens me.
An excellent overview!
This channel is quite fascinating.